


Pay the Piper

by snickerdoodlles



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Gen, Horror, References to Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:41:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26785318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snickerdoodlles/pseuds/snickerdoodlles
Summary: Protection comes with a price.
Kudos: 2





	Pay the Piper

They call it the Nevermore.

It didn’t arrive with the first plague of Grimm one hundred years ago, never turned hide nor hair for a full generation, but all the more deadly for it. Song like honey and bone spindle fingers, it preys exclusively on children—brushes through town on the quietest of nights and leaves soothing dreams in its wake until the horrified screams of parents left bereft shatter the illusion.

Unlike the others, it’s clever and cruel. Unlike the others, it’s persistent and learning. Unlike the others, it’s never once been seen, as intangible as its song.

No one meets the Nevermore and lives to tell the tale.

i.

“Mata, it’s time for bed!” Jude calls. He shuts off the TV just in time to catch tiny footsteps scurrying across wood floors, lunges off the couch just in time to snatch up the shrieking child with a booming laugh. “Where are you going, little Rabbit?” Jude chuckles, tickling his daughter along the back of her knee.

Mata pouts at him, blown out cheeks reminiscent of an overstuffed teddy bear. She kicks out her legs sullenly. “I don’ wanna go to bed.”

Jude bounces her on his hip, soft smile on his lips as he tries to coax one out of Mata. She pouts back stubbornly and he sighs as he begins the trek to the upstairs loft, carefully ducking under the rows of chimes and weaving around the protective charms. “I know, little one. I didn’t like going to bed when I was your age either.”

Mata squirms in his hold. “Then why—”

“It’s for your own good, Mata.” Jude bites back a sigh as Mata’s pout deepens. But, she makes no further protest when they reach the top stair, quietly going limp in his arms as the day’s exhaustion catches up to her. Jude gently tucks her head into the crook of his shoulder and kisses the top of her head to hide his smile. “You know why I put you to bed, don’t you Mata?”

Mata doesn’t respond and Jude bounces her gently. “Mata?” he asks around the lump in his throat.

“So I don’ end up like Luka,” Mata mutters sullenly.

Jude’s chest tightens at the casual mention of his firstborn, lost and gone to the haunting shadows of the world outside the village walls. Mata whimpers and Jude shushes her gently as he shuffles her to his other hip so he can press the sigil to open her bedroom door. Mata wasn’t even born when Luka was snatched all those years ago, but his absence is felt by both of them all the same.

“Yes little Rabbit.” Jude swallows harshly and blinks the itch of tears away. “Exactly like that.”

Mata’s room is barely a room. It used to be an attic in fact, an awkward space from a sloped roof design, old and dusty bits of the house with nowhere left to go. It breaks Jude’s heart to see Mata, his bright little rabbit, cooped up in a space so small. But with no windows and only a narrow hall to access it, there’s no safer place for his child to be.

That matters more than all else.

Jude nearly finishes tucking his daughter away when a furious pounding begins on his door. Mata blinks awake in surprise and Jude freezes, hand hovering over her protectively.

No one but the sentries go out at night. Even more suspicious to hear pounding on his home door, as no one needs a carpenter at this hour. Spiderweb fear—ever present since the first blow struck his family apart—creeps across his heart, the irrational desire to snatch up Mata and run itching under his skin and down to his bones.

“Jude, open up!” comes the muffled bellow. The tight tension along his limbs releases with his neighbor’s familiar voice, leaving Jude frozen in relief. “Jude!”

Mata’s wide eyes dart between Jude and the door and she wiggles in her eagerness. Jude sighs and drops the soft cotton as he resigns himself to wrestling Mata into bed at a later time. “Let’s go see what Adam wants before he bangs our door down,” Jude says bemusedly, lips twitching as Mata eagerly slips out of bed and darts out the door.

Jude catches her on the stairs and she hollers as he swings her up into his arms. The pounding on the door hasn’t ceased and Jude frowns. For Adam, ever calm and rarely loud spoken, to be banging down his door… A quick shuffle to tuck Mata under one arm and sling his crossbow over the other, then he’s ripping open his door and hauling Adam in before the other has a moment to think.

“What—” Adam yelps as he stumbles over the threshold, arms full of a squirming child, and he crashes into the wall face first. Mata whines from her place between him and the wall and Adam mutters a quick apology before turning to scowl at Jude. “What are you doing?”

Jude’s eyes flick cautiously between the clear street and Adam, reluctantly lowering his crossbow. “Thought it was a Grimm attack with all the banging ‘nd shouting,” Jude grumbles self-consciously.

“There’d be screaming if that were the case,” Adam says shortly, gingerly rubbing his nose. Jude levels him with a disgruntled look and Adam’s tugging the crossbow out of Jude’s hands before he can blink. “Nevermind all that, you need to come with me.”

Jude squawks as Adam drops Mata back in his arms and grabs his hand, running out the door without giving Jude a chance to lock up. “Wait, but— Adam!”

“Now!”

Between Adam’s insistent tugging and Mata’s head whipping around as she cranes to see everything, Jude’s left thoroughly blind. He resigns himself to stubbed toes and sore arms, only managing to spit Mata’s hair out of his face to catch the odd sign post and abandoned corners. Before he can grasp his bearings, Adam’s pulling him through the town center’s doors and is taking Mata from his arms.

Jude stumbles forward and glares around. “Adam, _what_ —”

Adam says something behind him, but Jude can’t hear past the blood roaring in his ears. Because just twenty feet before him, scratched and dirty beyond belief, is a boy with white speckled skin and golden eyes.

_Luka_.

Adam’s gentle push unlocks his legs and then Jude’s stumbling forward, past Adam’s wiry son, Watt, and scarred muscle wife, Lani, to fall beside his son’s curled form. It’s been six years, but Jude would never fail to recognize the sharp eyes, the way the scar over Luka’s eyebrow knits his splotched skin into a broken link. Jude’s eyes rake over Luka’s form, desperately cataloguing all the new scars and changes, vaguely aware of the growing murmurs from people around them. Luka’s eyes refuse to meet his, wide and desperate as they flick around the room and linger on the windows.

“It’s okay,” Jude murmurs, voice cracking along the words. Luka’s eyes snap to his at last, narrowed and shrewd. “You’re safe.”

Luka’s lips curl. His eyes skitter to the side and he pushes back, arm raised. Jude startles as a skirt brushes against his arm and he looks up to see Bree, the town’s best sentry, reaching out for Luka, eyes wide and hopeful. “Are you the only one?”

Luka flinches and Jude’s immediately on his feet to hold Bree back. Dark anger crosses Bree’s face and Jude raises his hands placatingly. “He’s only just returned—”

Bree’s expression cracks with grief, anger bleeding through bright. “And what about my Sara?” she demands. “If he can tell us, if he can help us rescue them—”

“Can’t you see he’s _scared_ —”

The clock tower’s toll startles them all, argument shattered as a dark blur darts past them. Watt grabs the blur with a yell, quickly turning to a startled scream as Luka’s ragged nails drags across the delicate skin of his wrist. Lani’s trunk-like arms snap out and grab Luka before he can bowl past Adam and Mata, Jude running up to help her hold his son back. Luka’s eyes are wide and terrified as he thrashes in Lani’s hold and Jude’s heart breaks as he reaches out only for Adam.

What horrors did Luka face out there, with the beasts and the Grimm and the Nevermore?

Not that it matters. A tight embrace to calm down Luka, Jude’s tears dampening his son’s matted hair. Despite this, all was alright.

Jude has his son back.

Nothing could take that away again.

ii.

Three weeks later, Jude sits hunched over his cold cup of coffee, solemn stare reflecting back, ever accusing.

Adam sits on the couch next to him, shoulders pressed together for strength. He asks inane questions that Jude only graces with grunts, chatters on about how nice it is Mata and Luka are getting along as Jude sits silent, even once attempting to suggest they schedule an outing before Jude’s side eyed glare cuts him off. They resigned themselves to sitting together quietly as Lina helps herself to the kitchen, fixing snacks and a fresh pot of coffee. They’re still frozen when Lani walks back in with refreshments and scoffs when she sees his first coffee still untouched. A scarred hand invades his view and a moment later, a fresh cup arrives.

“Drink,” Lani says shortly, but not unkind. “Moping does you no good.”

“Lani,” Adam scolds gently. His hand is a warm comfort on Jude’s knee. “She’s right that you should drink though, my friend. You look a minute away from death.”

Jude laughs humorlessly and takes a large gulp of coffee, barely noticing the scorching heat and the blisters beginning to bloom along the roof of his mouth. He opens his mouth to speak but his voice deserts him, leaving him gaping stupidly for the next few minutes before he slumps forward with a loud sigh.

Adam moves his hand to the back of Jude’s neck, rubbing soothing circles on the muscles knotting Jude’s next. Because it’s Adam, he senses Jude’s fingers going slack and rescues the mug before it can slip through Jude’s numb fingers. Jude grunts his thanks before he slumps back into Adam’s soothing touch.

He feels more than sees Adam and Lani exchange a look. Adam _tsk_ s and if Jude weren’t so exhausted, he’d roll his eyes until he had a headache.

“When was the last time you slept?”

Jude actually rolls his eyes at Adam’s fatherly mayor voice. “Last night, _mother_.”

Adam snorts and swats the back of Jude’s head before going back to massaging out the knots. “And for how long?”

Like he’s not a grown man. “Long enough.”

Jude can feel Lani’s glare burn into the top of his head. “You don’t need to be petulant with us,” she says primly.

Jude debates ignoring them both until they give up and leave him to wallow in peace, but Adam’s knee knocks into his in warning. Jude sighs and sits upright at last. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude.” He drags his hand down his face and rubs his eyes. “It’s just hard.”

Adam grunts in sympathy, hand dragging down to rub circles on Jude’s back. “Luka still scared?”

Jude just nods tiredly. “He’s calmer around Mata, thank gods, but he still looks like a cornered animal any time I walk in the room. He looks so...so _haunted_. It keeps me up at night, worried and terrified he’s going to be stolen again.” Jude’s head droops again, old ache of wanting a drink crawling down his throat to twitch his fingers. He steals Adam’s coffee with little resistance and chugs it all in one go, scalding and too damn sweet. “I just... I don’t know what to do,” he admits quietly to the empty mug.

Adam pats his back and Lani hums sympathetically. “We’re here for you,” Adam says quietly. “You know that right?”

Jude offers him a tired smile. Lani clears her throat gently and gives Jude a wan smile in return. “You have your son back. That’s what’s important.”

Jude’s shaking his head before she finishes. “But what happens if he’s taken again?” Adam stills and Lani frowns, but Jude’s speaking too quickly for them to respond. “You’re lucky. Watt was always careful, he could never be stolen by the Nevermore. But Luka…” Jude sighs. “Luka’s not like Watt. We’re not lucky like you, we—”

“You’re a fool if you think it’s luck,” Lani interrupts, blunt as a hammer.

Jude and Adam flinch. “Lani,” Adam hisses, eyes darting frantically between the two of them and hand half outstretched to Jude.

Lani rolls her eyes. “Don’t coddle him Adam, you said the very same thing last night.” Adam flinches again and he looks to Jude, apologetic, but Jude’s attention is swallowed whole by Lani’s steely stare.

“You think it was luck that kept Watt by our sides?” Lani snorts. “No. When snatchings grew more frequent, we made our home a fortress. When Watt followed curious brats to the forest edge, we disciplined. Watt didn’t stay by our side thanks to _luck_.”

“I… I just…”

Lani raises her brow and waits for Jude’s sputtering to form something meaningful. Instead he slowly falls silent, shamefully burying his head in hands, and the blacksmith’s fire recedes with a sigh. “I’m not saying this to be cruel, Jude. I just worry that you will lose one or both your children again.”

Jude feels Adam’s reassuring hand on his shoulder, but can’t bear the weight of sitting upright just yet. “I don’t know what to do,” he whispers hoarsely, tensing as Adam’s hand tightens in a show of empathy.

“You start with this.”

A wooden box thrusts into his vision and Jude’s eyes peek up to meet Lani’s steady stare. She nods regally and Jude tentatively pulls open the lid to reveal—

Jude hisses, dropping the lid in surprise. “Lani! This… this is—”

“A gift.” Lani pushes the box closer to Jude. “From both of us,” she says with a nod to Adam.

Adam nods and smiles kindly as he guides Jude’s hand back to the box. “We care for your family as if it were our own.” His fingers curl around Jude’s. “Please take the gift.”

Jude swallows around the lump in his throat and opens the box once more. Within sits two sets of beautifully crafted iron guardians and delicately carved sigils, easily worth a small child’s weight in gold should they be sold in a market place. Jude pulls the box into his lap, the crushing weight reassuring. “I don’t know what to say,” he murmurs.

Lani’s lips twitch, the closest Jude’s ever seen her to a smile. “You don’t need to say anything at all. Iron is the best protection against fae and Adam’s the best sigil master in town. It’s the least we could do to help protect our own.”

Jude smiles weakly and hugs the box close. “Thank you. Both of you.”

Lani and Adam respond with smiles as bright as the hope blooming within his chest.

iii.

A week later finds Jude tiptoeing down his hall to his children’s bedroom. He pauses outside the door to press his ear against the cool wood, chest tight as he holds his breath. The gentle clink of the guardians reached him and it soothes the worry balled in his chest, trapped breath rushing out in relief. Though he’s been sleeping better ever since Lani and Adam gifted them the guardians, anxiety still tightens his chest from time to time. Even now he itches with the need to check in on his kids, despite all his precautions.

Jude sighs. Some scars just don’t heal.

Jude carefully pushes open the door and slips inside. The dim hall moonlight slides in with him, too soft to do anything more than faintly outline the bare furniture around the room. Jude’s eyes slide over Luka’s sleeping form, worry draining with every gentle rise of Luka’s chest. He stares at Luka ‘til his eyes can pierce the darkness, make out the dark skin along with the light, the gleaming outlines of the guardians around his wrists. Jude’s eyes follow the thick chains to where they’re fastened on the wall and back, startling when he realizes Mata’s chains follow to the same bed. He squints and can just barely make out the small form of Mata curled against Luka’s side and Luka’s protective hand on her head. Jude’s lips pull into a smile at the protective gesture, heart swelling.

They’re going to be alright.

Luka’s guardian clinks loudly in the silence and Jude’s head snaps up to meet Luka’s wide gold eyes. Luka immediately curls around Mata and scrambles back to the far wall, uncaring as the heavy metal cuffs bite into the raw skin around his wrists. Mata murmurs in surprise, but Luka keeps her head pressed close to his chest and himself curled around her protectively as his eyes scan the room for danger. Jude’s heart aches for Luka and he carefully approaches his terrified son.

“Hey,” he murmurs quietly, hands held up soothingly.

Luka’s hold tightens around Mata, eyes narrowed. They do another sweep of the room and he slowly relaxes, stretching out like a cat in sunlight. Jude smiles widely as Luka edges around Mata, hand tentatively outstretched. Heart swelling, Jude reaches back.

Mata gasps, eyes glinting as she gapes at something behind Jude. Jude lunges before a thought can fully form, and a claw whistles where his head once was. He whirls on his knees, fists raised, and comes face to face with the Nevermore.

It’s smaller than he thought it would be. A bone white face stretched grotesquely into an imitation of a human’s bone skull grin, spines growing out of its head and down it’s back in a haphazard pattern. An oversized claw swipes at him again as the beast dances back on two legs, nimble and sure. Jude tenses, muscles coiling—all his rage for his lost years coursing through his limbs, heart racing with adrenaline.

He never sees the strike coming.

Jude comes to to metal biting his wrists. He could have only been out for barely a few minutes, more dazed than unconscious, but time and comprehension slips through his mind’s grasp like water past fingers. He blinks at the candle gold and shadow choked room, frowning as shapes blur and dart about. “Wha?” he slurs, tongue oddly heavy.

A quiet snort blows warm air across his cheeks and Jude rolls his heads around to meet Luka’s shining eyes.

The Nevermore.

Jude jumps to his feet. Or at least, he tries to, only making it upright before the world tips and he’s throwing up his dinner over the side of the bed—

Bed?

Another quiet chuckle and the sharp click of iron, quickly followed by the biting pain as the delicate skin around his wrists pinches and chafes and blood begins to pool down his fingers. Jude slowly rolls his head until he can see Luka scooting down the bed. Luka’s eyes meet Jude’s and teeth flash as Luka grins. “I wouldn’t move too much, you prolly have a concussion.”

Concussion?

A soft snort from across the room. Jude blinks blearily as his eyes roll to search the source. The Nevermore’s face gleams and Jude jerks back with a slurred shout. Laughter follows that, but not from the Nevermore’s face. Jude stares at it, baffled, and the laughter grows until the shadowed body of the Nevermore steps into the small circle of candlelight.

Jude stares at the tall girl standing before him. The Nevermore face—mask sits propped against her hip, a heavy fur draped around her shoulders and down her back. She looks familiar, but any trace of recognition flies as his gaze gets stuck on the heavy scar pulling across her cheek and through her ear, puckered skin pulling her mouth into a forever sneer. She stares at him imperiously and expectantly, eyebrow raised.

“Done.”

Jude looks back down to the foot of the bed, where Luka finishes tying the chains over Jude’s ankles. Jude stares at them in betrayal, his muddled brain unable to comprehend the guardians being wrapped around him instead of his kids. He stares at them for what seems like ages until a small movement catches his eyes. Jude’s eyes widen as Mata peeks out from behind Luka, small hand curled into Luka’s clothes. He stares up at his kids, eyes wide and mouth gaping, as he tries to comprehend what’s going on.

“The Nevermore enchanted you?”

The girl laughs—harsh and short, more bark than humor—and shakes her head. “I can’t watch this stupidity. I’ll be prepping our escape.”

Luka smiles wanly. “Thanks Sara.”

Sara tosses him the mask on her way out and pauses by the door. “Just don’t take too long.”

Jude watches the exchange, too concussed and baffled to put together this mismatched puzzle, thoughts tripping over each other as his brain tries to make sense of what’s going on. “Luka?”

Luka stares back defiantly. “What.”

The ice in his voice sends shivers down Jude’s spine, a chasm Jude hadn’t even known existed making its appearance abruptly and violently. “Why?” Jude finally manages.

“ _Why?_ ” Luka scoffs in disgust. “Maybe I just don’t like being chained up like an animal, never getting to go out or experience shit, just ‘cause you’re scared! Ever think of that?”

Jude flinches and tries to shake his head. “It was to protect you!”

“From _what_ ,” Luka asks indignantly, “ _Life?_ Protect me from experiencing anything, keep me coddled under your wing ‘til you died?” Luka shudders. “I’d rather be dead.”

Jude whimpers. His hand twitches, but he can’t seem to manage the weight of the heavy iron cuffs. He can barely feel his fingers move. “Please,” he whispers, hoarse and broken. “If you won’t stay, please don’t take Mata.” Jude swallows and licks his lips, tasting the salt of tears and sweat. “Please. She’s all I have left.”

Luka’s hard face twists with pity. “ _I_ wasn’t the one that knocked you out.”

Jude blinks, brain tripping over the statement, cogs stuttering as he tries to comprehend the confession. Slowly his eyes fall down to Mata, who glares at him with a sullen, stony face. “ _Mata_ ,” Jude asks, voice cracked and thin.

“I wanna go outside,” she says quietly. “I wanna run in the fields and play in the grass.” Her hand creeps up to slip into Luka’s, a hesitant smile on her lips. “Luka says the Nevermores never chain nobody when they sleep.”

Jude sputters, tugging uselessly against his chains. “But—”

“I don’t want to stay here.” Mata looks up at Luka, tiny hand tight around his. “Can we go now? I wanna see outside.”

“But the Grimm! The Nevermore—”

Luka laughs harshly. “Are you stupid? There is no Nevermore.”

Ice blooms across his chest.

Luka stares at him, face bright with fury. “There’s no such thing as a Nevermore. Well, unless you count the ones that come back to get the others.”

Mata perks up. “Like Luka!”

The furious expression on Luka’s face breaks into startled bemusement and he laughs, surprised. “Yeah, like me.” He smiles at Mata, so soft and tender, the expression outright alien to Jude. Jude’s heart stutters at the way Mata leans into Luka’s touch and reaches to be picked up in his embrace. Luka holds out the Nevermore mask and smiles fondly. It turns cruel as Luka’s eyes meet Jude’s. “Yeah, there are Grimm in the forests, but I’ll take those monsters over this village any day.”

“Luka…” Jude says helplessly as Luka slips the mask back on.

Luka laughs and the sound twists hollow through the mask. “There is no Luka. Just the Nevermore here to steal away your kid.”

And with a final laugh, they were gone.


End file.
